It's a game like no other really; a game that deals with the aspect of death and what happens after it. Those who come across this game nowadays though sort of bypass it for something else; a Command & Conqueor or whatever. Grim Fandango though has much more than most games can dream; characters, plot and most importantly music.

Yet if put into the film media; how far do you think it would go in terms of box office or success? How many people would go and see a film based on the afterlife and how it is corrupted? Its definately a fresh idea and one that I don't think can be said has been done before.

Yet if so, how would you first go about making this film? Digital animation of course is essential and how close to the game would you keep that animation? Another factor would be would you split the film into two halves; would it make two films though; theres not really enough it make two whole films and theres probably too much to make one.

But what do u think? One; should GF be a film, Two; How far would it go and three: how could it be made? Really depends on the first question though...

"Oh Manny, so cynical, what happened to you Manny, that caused you to lose your sense of hope, your love of life?"
"I died"

There are however a number of problems with this, I think. Firstly, movies are quite a different medium than games. I agree that it would be hard to squeeze the plot of the game into a comfortable movie (perhaps go the Kill Bill way, though I think these drawn out things appeals less to non-fans.), just consider the time you spent playing (yes, I realize most of the time was just running around =P ).

This leads to the next obstacle, which direction would the movie take? I think it would be hard to include the game's whimsical interaction and humour between the "actors" and still be so dramatic at times. I probably wouldn't have a problem with it, since I know the game, but others might go into it expecting this or that.

Also, while we're on prejudices, this movie would most likely be animated. For some reason this is considered a bit childish (some peope still live in the sixties =P ), and would further scare away producers (along with the direction it would have to take, and the somewhat meager financial results from the game (signalling low interest).) Even if the movie was made and perfectly conveyed the feel of the game, I don't think it would rake in much money (What a child movie? With skeletons? Death and murder? And so on), the fanbase IS actually rather small.

On the other hand, with a dedicated team and someone with a few heaps of money laying around, I can defiantely see GF being turned ito a movie, it is a good story after all.

I'm sorry for all the ( )s, I know they are annoying. And I know my thoughts are somewhat rambling, I'm in a hurry. I'll focus more next time!

Getting Grim Fandango to work as a movie would be a difficult task, but if done well the result might be magnificent.

I think length is one of the biggest obstacles. The game has lots of dialogue that develops the characters and makes them all stand out. In a movie there would be no chance to give that much attention to minor characters, unless it became really long or had several parts. Perhaps one movie for each year.

As a result the only characters to keep their developed game selves would most likely be Manny, Glottis, Meche, Domino and perhaps Salvador, Eva and Hector. Characters like Membrillo, Toto and Chepito would either appear only briefly or be cut out entirely. And that, in my opinion, would take a lot from the experience. Especially from those who haven't played the game.

I think that any GF movie should definitely be animated. I'm thinking something along the lines of Pixar. It would have to look like the cut scenes, only even better and smoother. Most, if not all, of the music would have to be from the game and the same voice actors (at least for the main characters) would be needed. However, since at least one of the voice actors is already dead, that would be impossible unless his lines were taken straight from the game.

But now that I think of it, I think we'd get pretty much the same result if someone made a fan movie. You know, someone recorded their Full Throttle experience, got rid of the cursor and released it online. If someone could do the same with GF, only go through the best/necessary dialogue and edit out some of the walking around, we'd have a decent GF movie in our hands.

"Oho, my sainted aunt, have I become a victim of brain fever, the curse of academia...?" -- Jonathan Crane

I'm leaning towards no. Grim Fandango has always been about connecting to the characters, feeling the satisfaction of completing it, and exploring the world. If a film did it, then well, you wouldn't be exploring the world.

I would love to see a 3D Grim Fandango movie. Maybe a movie divided in volumes (as someone said, one movie for each year or something similar) but it could be fantastic. Well, who knows, maybe Uwe Boll makes this movie

It wouldn't do that well. Creative movies tend not to sell. Much like creative games.

Psychonauts as a saturday morning cartoon, however, would be awesome.

There's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going. There's no knowing where we're rowing or which way the river's flowing. Is it raining? Is it snowing? Is a hurricane a-blowing? Not a speck of light is showing, so the danger must be growing. Are the fires of hell a-glowing? Is the grisly reaper mowing? Yes, the danger must be growing 'cause the rowers keep on rowing, and they're certainly not showing any signs that they are slowing. AAAGGHHH!!!

I'm leaning towards no. Grim Fandango has always been about connecting to the characters, feeling the satisfaction of completing it, and exploring the world. If a film did it, then well, you wouldn't be exploring the world.
I also don't see a big market for it.

I agree with you in every sense.
Anyway, I don't think this should be a film. It would loose it deepness to become an adventure movie.

Besides it would be either a 3D movie, which would make it seem like a child film (give me the name of any computer-generated film made for adults or a serious audience, if you think I'm wrong); or acted, and the characters wouldn't be skeletons (I personally think it would be very interesting to see an interpretation of death which includes humans instead).
Even worse: the credits are owned by LucasArts, unless I am mistaken, what would mean the movie would be made by Lucas or Spielberg, and you already know what I think about them.

The more I think about this the more I feel like old school type of animation would suit better, like old disney with that certain sketchiness to it. This is, however, probably more improbable than the rest of the ideas. =/

The more I think about this the more I feel like old school type of animation would suit better, like old disney with that certain sketchiness to it. This is, however, probably more improbable than the rest of the ideas. =/

Don't toss it away so easily. I've seen fanworks exactly like this. Extremely talanted artists will create a flash or a mini "cartoon" of such things.

So yes, I think something like that would work. However it would have to go along with the Grim Fandango game instead of replacing the game.

I think if you take the actual idea and adjust it (a lot!) it would make a great high-budget TV series with a dark feel. So you could use real-life actors and have real-life settings but have such high production values that it suits the premise. The the story would evolve over the 12/24 episodes and you could add sub-plots etc. So it wouldn't be the game, but it would be an amazing series. The main problem I can think of would be the years 1/2/3/4 which wouldn't work (unless season 1 was year 1, season 2 was year 2 and so on). You could change the story and have it as a continuous thing (so maybe making it so that intead of Manny owning the place in Rubacava he just works in the casino. I haven't thought it out in detail but it would be an amazing series.

I think they could just replace the skeletons for real people. I know some would be very annoyed but that's the only way I can see this being done without some cheesy effect. If it's done well than I would have no complaints.

The story and settings are beautiful, so I don't see why they would have to change it all around.

There's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going. There's no knowing where we're rowing or which way the river's flowing. Is it raining? Is it snowing? Is a hurricane a-blowing? Not a speck of light is showing, so the danger must be growing. Are the fires of hell a-glowing? Is the grisly reaper mowing? Yes, the danger must be growing 'cause the rowers keep on rowing, and they're certainly not showing any signs that they are slowing. AAAGGHHH!!!

I think i could be cool with a GF-movie, and I know it would work perfect. You guys know where Tim Schafer got the ideas for GF from ? Films...
The afterlife-plot from Tim Burton's "Nightmare Before Christmas", and the noir-attitude from alot of other movies like Chinatown and Casablanca. The last movie, Casablanca, is a perfect clone of the first 2 years of GF. With Bogart playing Rick Blaine, this is a perfect match Manny, and Victor Laszlo played by Paul Henreid, is sitting with a piano and playing on Rick's casino. All the characters is in that movie....

I can recommend all these movies, but specially "Nightmare before Christmas" and Casablanca...!!

How about the movie could start at the point were Olivia has taken Manny captive, and we can have the years as flashbacks, after each one returning to the present situation, untill we are finally brought up to date. That way it wouldn't matter if you left out the inbetween years and you could have a bit of narration from Manny at the start of each one to smooth over the transition.

Hey everyone. I'm new here.
Grim Fandango always has been and always will be my favourite PC game.

Grim Fandango as a film..
If done well, I'm sure I'll enjoy it (along with many other Grim Fandango fans) but it's not really a well known game. It's an adventure game - a dying genre.
They could redo the story with the style, colour and mood of a neo-noir film like say.. Sin City. That might appeal to a few more people. (Sin City is a fecking brilliant movie too. If you haven't seen it, you're missing out!)

It should be a film. I'd hate to see such a great story just slowly fade away through the sands of time. Grim Fandango could go far..very far. Just imagine people all around seeing an excellent film version of Grim Fandango and they're blown away by it. They soon find out about the great game and millions of new Grim Fandango fans emerge! It'll be great.
Enough of the fantasy.

The soundtrack would be a big focus though. It's what made the game so great (IMHO). I bought the CD about a year after I played the game. (twas one of my first albums i ever bought too!)
Heh. Sorry if I sound like an obsessed weirdo...I'm just emotionally attached to this game.

The other day I saw "The Corpse Bride" and I think a Grim Fandango movie with that animation style would be great. If they use the original actors to make the voices and respect the story and most important things, even if they have to divide the movie in two volumes, it would be one of the best movies ever. Just imagine Chepito's final scene, with his song dissappearing within the tunnel, in the big screen... (and that's one of the "lesser" scenes...

However, Grim Fandango as a film could be a good or bad thing. For instance, they could make a new story line that bodges it up completely, or the medium they use could bodge it up. If I had to say a medium, it would have to be the animation they use in the game, with the same voice characterizations, the full fandango (no pun intended), and even then, it might not be as good.

Make it faithful to the game, with the same animation and voices, then yes. But personally, no offense Scorpicus, I think that plasticine is a bad idea. Also, how would you get all the bones to be separate?

I'm still favouring the real people way to go, but I think plasticine over computer animation. Why? I don't really know, I think if you did it using 3D animation it would seem too much like the game. Also I don't think 2D animation would be too good neither, since its been pretty much replaced by 3D animation- when was the last succesful 2D film? Back in the 90s. Audiences expect more from the animation nowadays.

I'm still favouring the real people way to go, but I think plasticine over computer animation. Why? I don't really know, I think if you did it using 3D animation it would seem too much like the game. Also I don't think 2D animation would be too good neither, since its been pretty much replaced by 3D animation- when was the last succesful 2D film? Back in the 90s. Audiences expect more from the animation nowadays.

If you did it in the style of Corpse Bride/Walllace and Gromit it could look amazing! I never thought about that before

There are two directions you could take a GF film: You could play up the humour and aim it more at familys, or you could play up the drama and aim it at adults. I guess if you were going for oscars you might go for the adult audiences, but then again you don't want to cut off the kids who play the game... I guess the real beauty is finding the middle way inbetween *sudden relisation of going in a circle in thoughts* Wohoo! Pointless post!